A sign at the entrance of a primary school built by Heritage Oil and Gas in Buhuka, Hoima District in the area that hosts the Kingfisher Oil wells (Photo:CM)

Uganda’s oil industry received two belated Easter presents this week that, according to government officials, place the country on a solid path towards oil production.

Amidst jubilation following Uganda’s reported victory in the tax arbitration case against Heritage Oil and Gas in London on Wednesday; junior Minerals Minister, Peter Lokeris, revealed that President Yoweri Museveni had finally signed the Petroleum (Exploration, Development, Production) 2012 Bill, into law. Read More

The oldest building at the UCU campus. The university is looking to the future with new oil courses.

Uganda Christian University, one of the country’s oldest and most prestigious higher education institutions, is seeking to develop petroleum management expertise through an Oil and Gas Leadership Institute which is expected to evolve into a fully fledged department. Established in 2010 and currently housed within the university’s School of Research and Postgraduate Studies, the institute is the product of a visit to the University of Queensland in Australia in 2009.

For this young man, a bird on the shoulder is worth more than a barrel of oil in the bush (Photo: NY)

The Oil in Uganda team extends warm, seasonal greetings to all our readers. Also, to entertain you in between bouts of feasting, we have prepared a little quiz to test your general knowledge of oil in Uganda and beyond. Doing the quiz won’t, alas, make you a millionaire, but you may glean some interesting–and some shocking–facts. The answers to the following twenty questions appear at the end of the text—together with a ‘performance assessment’ depending on how many questions you answered correctly. Read More

Uganda’s Petroleum (Exploration, Development, Production) Bill completed its stormy passage through parliament on December 7 when the Deputy Speaker finally brought the matter to a vote, after a fortnight of intense lobbying and extra-parliamentary debate on contentious clauses.

The controversial Clause 9, which gives control over exploration and production licensing to the minister in charge of petroleum, is retained in the final version of the bill, which also establishes a national oil company to advance the state’s commercial interests in the oil sector, and a Petroleum Authority as the industry regulator. Read More

President Yoweri Museveni’s struggle to assert his authority over ruling party MPs may finally bear fruit today as parliament moves yet again to vote on the controversial Clause 9 of the Petroleum (Exploration, Development, Production) Bill, after weeks of fractious debate and procedural impasse.

According to MPs, the president has himself been contacting them by telephone to muster support for re-introducing Clause 9, which gives the minister in charge of petroleum—and, in effect, the president himself—decisive powers to award and revoke exploration and production licenses.

It is not known whether these conversations include the offer of financial rewards for political obedience, but some political observers regard this as a characteristic feature of President Museveni’s recent rule. Read More

A defiant Parliament yesterday again refused to vote on the controversial Clause 9 of the Petroleum Bill it has been debating for the last month, but agreed to stand-over the clause for one more day to allow both sides to study a compromise position.

It emerged that Energy Minister, Hon. Irene Muloni, together with some key MPs from the ruling and opposition parties had met at length on Monday and agreed on a ‘win-win’ position to propose to the House. Read More

The premier’s main argument, which appears in the closing paragraphs of the 1,600 word New Vision opinion piece, is that the Petroleum Authority, as industry regulator, should not both issue licences for exploration and production and at the same time enforce industry standards. This, he says, “tantamounts to one checking oneself!” Hon. Mbabazi, who is considered a possible successor to President Yoweri Museveni, also complains that “removing the Minister [from licensing decisions] is tantamount to removing the President from control of the oil resource.” Read More

The Speaker of Parliament, Hon. Rebecca Kadaga, has said she will not reconvene the House until MPs who allegedly disrupted proceedings on Wednesday, as a vote was about to passed over the controversial Clause 9 of a bill to regulate the petroleum sector, are punished for indiscipline.

Hon. Kadaga has ordered the parliamentary Committee on Rules, Privileges and Discipline to review the matter and report back to her by Monday so that appropriate disciplinary action is taken against lawmakers considered guilty of fanning the fracas in the debating chamber. Read More